This book was one of the first ones that I requested on NetGalley over 5 years ago and I just got around to reading it this year. I was initially attracted to the cover, and for some reason missed the fact that this was suspense while checking it out, and thought I'd be getting a pure cowboy romance. I mention all of this because my review is not very positive, so I wanted to be clear that some of that comes from the fact that this book is not one I would have expected myself to enjoy, and would not have requested, had I taken a closer look at it all those years ago.

Rescue at Cardwell Ranch:

I really hated this book. Not enough to give it 1 star for some reason, although I think that's merely because I was proud of myself for pushing through and actually finishing all 200 pages. My main issue with this book is the fact that I don't enjoy reading books where women are targeted to be harmed, and I DEFINITELY don't enjoy reading from the perspective of those that wish to cause women harm.

Besides for that main gripe, I felt the writing to be lacking, the romance to be filled with insta-love and absolutely no chemistry, and the plot to be very contrived and too creepy for my taste. I felt that many characters made dumb decisions based on pride or lust and just was not drawn in to any aspect of the story. The main reason I even finished this book was that it was short, and having had it on my TBR for so long, it was a book I wanted to challenge myself to get through. In the end I would give this book a 2 star rating, which I feel is quite generous, although I would not recommend it.

Wanted Woman:

While the first book in this bind up at least made me feel creeped out, this book just bored me. It had the same bland writing, the same one dimensional characters, and the same ridiculous insta-lust masquerading as romance. There were way too many plot points and criss-crossing stories and yet I cared about none of them. I didn't feel that there were any stakes, and was certain that everything would wrap up in a nice bow, which it did.

Overall:

In general, I was not impressed by either story. However, I'm further confused as to why these two stories were put into a single bind up as they weren't from the same series and didn't have much in common in some other way. While I began by stating that this is not my usual genre, this book did not impress me in any way or make me change my mind about the genre. If I ever do decide to read a suspense in the future though, it will definitely be by a different author.

Both of these books were great but I would have to say that I liked Wanted Woman a little more even though it was a love at first sight type of romance.
Mckenzie and Hayes are both very likable characters both are very headstrong and stubborn.
Maggie and Jesse are both as likable.
I've read this book twice now and I can't seem to find anything wrong with either one except for the fact that I had not read the Cardwell Cousins #1 or Cascades Concealed #1 or #2.